Bumblefoot (contains photos)

[katiepops]

I wonder if someone with experience of treating Bumblefoot would be able to do a guide on the best course of treatment? I know there's been lots of threads but it would be great to have info in one place.

Stripes was diagnosed with Bumblefoot at the beginning of April.
I noticed a small scab and slight swelling so booked him in for the Tuesday after Easter. (this being the thursday afternoon before and the earliest I could get him in) On Good Friday he knocked the scab off (I think he caught it on the edge of the cardboard box he was playing in - they'd knocked it on its side, naughty boys!) and ended up covered in blood so after phoning the emergency vets who said don't "bother bringing him, we'll only put some sudacream on and charge you £50"! mallethead I cleaned him up and bathed it in salt water and ordered some Gorgeous Guineas Happy Soles Ointment.

When we went to the vets on the tuesday she put him on 1ml of Baytril once a day for 1 month. We've completed this now and she has pescribed another 2 months and said he may have to stay on it for the rest of his life!
I've been massaging in the Happy Soles Ointment twice a day as soon as it arrived but it had swelled up and hasn't gone down.

He's not lost any weight, is eating, squeeking and running around as normal, it doesn't appear to be bothering him at all but he may be hiding it very well, as guineas do.

Is there anything else I can try?
We've switched from fleece and towels to vet bed which is shaken off twice a day and changed every other day although you wouldn't think it to look at the state of his mucky feet! He only had a bath 7 days ago!

Any help suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you all.

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[Laura-CCC4]

Poor fellow, that does look sore. Have his nails been trimmed lately? (I do appreciate this could be difficult with his foot being sore though.)

Bumblefoot is one problem that the treatment for is hugely varied, no one thing is sure to work, and quite often the condition cannot be cured - as such, a guide on treating it wouldn't be as sure as guides on other medical conditions. I don't have personal experience of treating a pig for it - although I did have a pig with an infection in the tissues of her back leg - but have come across a lot online and in various books etc. regarding the treatment of bumblefoot.

Of all the suggestions I have seen, I personally feel that the one thing that is important is an analgesic/anti-inflammatory like Rimadyl or Metacam. Foot soaks, antibiotics, treatments creams etc. can be tried, should be tried, but often have little or no effect.

I personally feel, simply thinking logically, that systemic (oral) antibiotics may not be greatly effective with foot infections, given that the feet are the extremities and the drugs are going to hit hardest on the gut for what may be a very minor or no effect on the feet. If antibiotics are to be given I would consider discussing the use of a topical antibiotic treatment of some kind.

It's also worthwhile considering why the bumblefoot occurred, especially if the pig is bedded on a solid floor with frequently cleaned bedding and there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for it having occurred. Inactivity may be the basic issue in some cases, but the inactivity could be the pig slowing down naturally, or it could be down to age-related conditions or even circulatory (heart) issues. In some cases the bumblefoot is a symptom, not the main condition.

How old is Stripes?

 

[tattyruncy]

Two of my piggies had Bumblefoot.
I tried lots of different things -
Manuka honey spread on the foot and taped over with micropore - some improvement;
Cabbage poltice taped to the foot with micropore - some reduction of swelling;
Happy soles foot ointment - some improvement initially;
Baytril - useless;
Iodine soak - useless;
The only thing that worked wonders was that I scrapped all of the above and kept the foot as dry as possible - vet bed changed every day and I gave 0.2ml of Nurofen daily for 4 weeks and absolutely magic - the Bumblefoot in both my girls was massively improved - swelling 99% gone, dried up completely and healed
The only thing is that it is likely to come back, once they have it once, they seem to maybe have it "flare up" again.
All of the above is just my experience, but I would certainly give the nurofen a try or even better, Rimadyl if you can get your vet to prescribe it
I have seen a piggy with absolutely horrendous Bumblefoot effecting its leg also and it really is such a problematic thing to deal with - some piggies feet seem to get better, some don't unfortunately

 

[katiepops]

Thank you both. Stripes is 3 1/2, he's quite a big pig, always has been, I wondered if it could be weight related. He was 1.320kg when I weighed him yesterday. He's never been the kind of pig that charges round and popcorns alot unlike Spike but he has been more active since they moved in together 4 months ago.
I'm struggling with his nails because I can't hold his foot very well with out hurting him. I asked the vet and she said they were ok and wouldn't cut them but I think they're too long aswell so I'm trying a little bit at a time to get them a bit shorter.

I'd read about Bumblefoot being connected to heart issues which did worry me but I thought there would be other symptons as well?

 

[katiepops]

Two of my piggies had Bumblefoot.
I tried lots of different things -
Manuka honey spread on the foot and taped over with micropore - some improvement;
Cabbage poltice taped to the foot with micropore - some reduction of swelling;
Happy soles foot ointment - some improvement initially;
Baytril - useless;
Iodine soak - useless;
The only thing that worked wonders was that I scrapped all of the above and kept the foot as dry as possible - vet bed changed every day and I gave 0.2ml of Nurofen daily for 4 weeks and absolutely magic - the Bumblefoot in both my girls was massively improved - swelling 99% gone, dried up completely and healed
The only thing is that it is likely to come back, once they have it once, they seem to maybe have it "flare up" again.
All of the above is just my experience, but I would certainly give the nurofen a try or even better, Rimadyl if you can get your vet to prescribe it
I have seen a piggy with absolutely horrendous Bumblefoot effecting its leg also and it really is such a problematic thing to deal with - some piggies feet seem to get better, some don't unfortunately

I had wondered about soaks, I remember reading it on another post but couldn't remember what the foot was soaked in! Is it this kind of Nurofen you used? http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/nurofen-for-children-orange-flavour_1_9728.html I don't want to give him the wrong strength. :{

 

[Laura-CCC4]

There would be other symptoms if heart was a problem - some info can be found here: http://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html#signs

Something else that came to mind is fungal issues - prolific fungal infections can also contribute to bumblefoot. Heavier piggies may be more prone to bumblefoot as well.

You do have the right children's Nurofen, dose is as Mandy said though 0.2ml can be given twice daily. Mine prefer the strawberry flavour though. rolleyes

 

[katiepops]

Thank you Laura. I've read through the link. Nothing stands out but it's good I know what to look out for.

Now you mention fungal...Spike became very itchy in the middle of March. I took them to see Jenny at Tilehurst who treats the Reading Rescue piggies. She wasn't sure what it was but figured it was mites that we had caught very early as it looked fungal in places but also dandruffy. They were both treated with Ivermectin (3 of the pipettes of Xeno 450 each, one every two weeks, followed by the Manuka and Neem shampoo a couple of days after each application) Although Spike got very itchy, Stripes wasn't too bad and cleared up very quickly. It might be coincidence but Stripe's bumblefoot appeared only a couple of weeks later.

I'll try the strawberry Nurofen, come to think of it when I tried to give them a piece of orange they looked at me like I'd given them something evil and ran away from it! Only food that's ever had that reaction so may be orange is not going to be popular! They've never had strawberries though so fingers crossed! lol

Bath time tomorrow and more nail trimming! Actually looking at the photos it's really clear where the quick is, I really worry about cutting too far. The vet's always reluctant to cut them very short so I bought some claw trimmers to try myself, we're getting there! Did Spike's sucessfully at the weekend after his bath and he's the biter!

 

[clairelove]

is your guinea pig housed with another guinea pig?

i ask because Cody came in with Zack and both had been fighting and this is what cody's foot looked like the scab been the bite entry whole which turned into an abscess,its poss it is bumble foot but by looking at it too but it may also be a abscess,

have you tried to get the scab off?too see if there is any puss in the there?

you could also try daktarin gel on the foot 3-4 times a day xx

a good treatment recommended by vedra is Hepa sulpha which absorbs the puss from the inside dont touch the tables with your hands put one tablet in the water bottle once a day these can be brought via the Internet and health shops

 

[Laura-CCC4]

I agree with Claire's general thoughts, certainly something to consider, but I wouldn't recommend trying to remove the scab. I'd be loathe to try and pull it off myself even - when the foot bleeds, it does so a lot.

 

[clowny]

Have you tried bathing in Hibiscrub? Worked wonders on Toffees foot. I put his flare up down to age and inactivity - he is 6.5 now and obviously isn't as active as my younger piggies.

 

[katiepops]

He does live with another piggy but they don't fight, they're both pretty laid back. Never mount each other, it's like neither of them have worked out who's the dominant one but they're not bothered They'll have the odd verbal fight over the last piece of cucumber but other than that are a very calm pairing so I don't think it's a fight wound.

Well he's just had his bath and the scab had come off when I picked him up. There was no puss and just a little blood. It didn't bleed anywhere near as much as when the first scab came off.
There's a little black dot on his other front paw which looks like it might be starting there as well so I've started putting the Happy Soles Ointment on that one as well.

He's had a bath and nail trim so is looking a lot better. A two person operation trying to hold his poorly paw without hurting him.

I'm going to pick up some Nurofen this afternoon and try him on that. (strawberry flavour )

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SPIKE: "I'm not impressed...."

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SPIKE: "Members of the forum, this is woman is treating me really bad - first I haven't had my breakfast yet, she said she didn't want any accidents in the bath, "You know what happened last time - poo tastic!"
Now she's gone and got me all wet, just look at the state of me, I was happy being smelly, I'm a pig I keep telling her...
Then she made me have my nails cut, well he had to come and help as well! I'm too much for one person (evil laugh )
Then all I got was a piece of celery while she put that hairdryer on me, I said put me in the sunshine but Oh no, there's no sunshine today..."

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SPIKE: " actually I've had a nice cuddle now and look how clean I am. And I can see breakfast! A living salad, that's mine, let me at it! Wheek wheek wheek!"

 

[Mother Hubbard]

Ahhh bless him....such a cutie pie x

 

[Melly]

She won't stop eating her foot

I have a guinea pig, who has a swollen foot. She has had this once before, to which there was a black scab under her foot. Just having one pass away from it, we took her inside and bandaged her with antibacterial cream everyday. It healed up perfectly, with only a little bit of dis figuration on the foot.
Many many months later, she walked up to me with the same foot swollen, with the same black mark. We did the same thing as last time.
During one night, the bandage came off, and she chewed of two of her toe nails and a lot of skin. That was already about 2 weeks ago.
We proceeded to continue bandaging, but she's in a lot of pain when we do, and tries to bite her foot every chance she gets.
We have been giving her plenty of vitamin A and C, and wrapping the foot up with zinc cream.
Yesterday, she pulled of the bandage, and then again this morning.
She has no remaining toe nails, and her skin is almost completely ripped off.
She's not happy, and has a bandage and a sling on to protect her foot.
She's is still eating and drinking normally.
We cannot afford another specialist, and am considering taking her to my local dog and at vet to have her leg removed.
What antibiotics can I apply that may help healing or stop the infection? She is pregnant, and therefore can't go to the vet until she has had the babies, so I need a treatment now to keep her alive until we decide that we should have her leg removed. Otherwise, I would like something that may help her heal by herself.
I would appreciate so much to have a reply.
I have seen someone mention metacam as a treatment? My rabbit needed that once, but that was because she had a fever, and metacam acted as an aspirin. How will it help my piggy?
Melly x.